Apparatus for preserving fruit



will! R. E. WHEELER. APPARATUS FOR PRESERVING FRUIT.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. I8, I92].

Pabented Mar. 7, 1922.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

ATTORNEY.

R. E. WHEELER. APPARATUS FOR PBESERVING FRUIT.

APPLICATION FILED JAN-18,1921.

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- ATTORNEY.

. vention.

pletely BOY E. WHEELER, PENN YAN, NEW YORK.

mAIRATUS FOR PRESEEVING FRUIT.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RoY E. WHEELER, a citizen of the United States, residin at Penn Yan, in the county of Yates and tate of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in an Apparatus for Preserving-Fruit, of which the following is a s ecification.

be present invention relates to an apparatus and method for preserving fruit, and is especially designed to prepare quartered apples for canning;

t is known in t 's art that'canned apples are freqliliently subject to premature decay due to t e' fact that the pores of the apples form habitats for air, which, acting in conjunction with the acid of the apple, causes the can to perforate, thereby starting deterioration of the apples or other fruit contained in cans. It is to overcome this objection that this apparatus and method have been devised.

A principal object of the invention is not only to expel the air from the pores of the quartered apples, but likewise to produce an apparatus which will permit handling of the apples 111 an expeditious manner to increase the output of a factory to a maximum.

The above and other objects of this invention will be more fully understood from the following description of the invention taken n connection with they accompanying draw- 1n wherein: a p

g. 1, is aside elevational view of a device constructed in accordance with this in- Fig. 2, is an end elevational view of the device.

Fi if), is a longitudinal sectional view of the once showlng a portion of the cylinder 1n elevation, and 1 Fig. 4, is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

In t the drawings, a tank 5 is provided which in this instance is shown to be of an oblong configuration and is made up of a plural ty of side sections 6, and end sections Said sides and ends are connected by a bottom which-is made up of a plurality-of sections 8. The sections of the sides, ends and'bottom of the tank are secured together by means of water-tight connections 9, such, for instance, as white lead. As shown to advanta in Fi 4, these connectors are'oom ho within ,the sections. More'- over, the bottom of" the tank has the lateral Specification of Letters ratent.

of aspring type so as to normally hold the Patented Mar. 7, 1922.

. Application filed January 18, 1921. Serial No. 488,124.

margins thereof mortised in the lower sections of the sides of the tank, while the ends of the tank are mortised in the upper faces of the sections comprising the bottom of the tank. In order to positively retain the side, end and bottom sections from relative movement, a suitable bracing structure is provided which consists especially of brace bars which extend below the tank, transversely thereacross and slightly beyond the sides of the tank tdreceive brace rods 11, the upper terminals of which are bent over the upper margins of the sidesof the tank. At the ends of the tank the brace bars 10 have rods 12 extended therethrough which extend through and above brace bars 12 mounted upon the top of the tank. The brace bars 10 and 12 at the ends of the tank are connected by side bars 13, all of which are held from lateral displacement by transversely extending tie rods 14. In this way a durable structure is provided which will be $1- tively water-proof and which will positively withstand any reasonable pressure exe thereon by movement of mechanism arranged therein.

The opposite ends of the tank 5 are equipped with bearing blocks 15 which bear against the inner faces of the ends of the tank and are provided with openings arranged near the tops of the blocks. These blocks are adapted for engagement with the ends of a shaft 16, the latter extending longitudinally through a cylinder 17 and corn nected thereto. As shown to advantage in Fig. 4, the shaft is square in cross-section, except at its ends, which, as indicated at 18, are circular and engage the openings formed in the upper ends of the bearing blocks 15. This formation permits the cylinder 18 to be rotated in the tank 5 for a purpose hereinafter set forth.

The cylinder is composed of heads 19,'comprising the opposite ends thereof,'sa1d heads being connected by longitudinally extendin ribs 20, the ends f which are coun'te' in the peripheries of said-heads. Circular slats 21 are secured to the ribs and me be. of sectional formation and any one or a of the-sections hinged to the ribs as mdicated at 22 and shown to advantage 1n 3 and 4. By hinging certain of the sections of the slats, or all of them, at the opium of the user, acees is gained to the interior of 110 the cylinder. The hinges may, if desired rted ' prevent casual dis lacement of the contents of the cylinder.

plurality of slats 23 are secured to the shaft 16 and radiate therefrom into engagement with certain of the ribs 20 and are secured to the latter by means of binding strips 24. These slats are spaced and have the inner ends thereof fixedly secured to the sides of the shaft 16. By securing one 'seriesof the slats23 to one face of the shaft 16 and another series of slats to another face of the shaft, so that said second series of slats will abut the inner terminals of the first series of slats, a plurality of o'fi set compartments A, B, C .and D will be provided.

In'use of this device, water or other suitable liquid is. placed in the tank 5 and may be heated in any desired manner to a predetermined temperature. 'After having reached this temperature, we will assume that the quartered apples are first placed in the conipartment B, following which the cylinder is rotated so as to immerse the contents of said compartment B in the liquid containedjin the tank. The compartment A, which is now in the position heretofore occupied by compartment Bis filled with apples, following which the cylinder is again rotated, thereby immersing the contents of the tank A in the liquid contained in the tank. Since two of the compartments will at all times be im-' mersed in the liquid, it will be apparent that both compartments A; and B are now submerged. It is desired to retain the apples sume, takes ten minutes, thereby bringing.

immersed-in the water for a predetermined period of time which, in the present instance, we will assume to be twenty minutes. The contents of the com artment B, we will assume, was immerse in the liquid ten minutes during the filling of the compartment A. Consequently, after the com artment A has been submerged, the section is brought into position to be filled, which, we will asthe aggregate time which the contents 0 the compartment B has been held under theliquid to twenty minutes and the time which the contents of compartment A has been held in the, liquid ten minutes. .Consequently, when the compartment D is brought into position to be filled by in turning the cylinder, the contents oft e compartment B are permitted to float out of the compartment,

7 by merely opening the sections of the circu-' lar-slats. 'The apples or other fruit contained in the compartment B will float there-v from into the tank-5, from whence they are removed and placed in cans. It will be observed, upon reference to Figs. 2 and 4 of the drawings, that the cylinder. 17 is ar adjacent one side of the tank 5 indicated by an arrow X, this side being known as the opposite side of the tank so as to permit ample space for the contents. of the various compartments to successively float into the tank and be removed therefrom without in any way interfering with the operation of the cylinder. I

It is of course to be understood that the device of this invention is susceptible of Va rious other usages. However, the above is what I now deem to bathe preferred method of using the device, especially inpreparing apples for canning. The device is simple throughout, yet durable and efiicient. The particular-arrangement above described per-. mits successive phases of operation necessary to properly prepare apples for canning and positively eliminates all lost-motion, thereby rangement of parts, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as covered by the appended claims What is claimed is:

1. Anapparatus for preserving fruit including a liquid containing tank equipped with ajcylinder divided into compartments, certain of said compartments being submerged in the liquid, while other of the compartments are open above the surface of the water to permit filling of the cylinder on one side and removal of the contents thereof from the opposite side.

2. An apparatus for preserving fruit including a liquid containing tank, and 9. cylinder revolubly mounted in the tank and divided into compartments for the reception of fruit adapted to be successively immersed in said liquid, said compartments being de- 3. An apparatus for preserving fruit includin a liquid conta' tank equipped with 5 multi-parted cylinder said cylinder being perforate to permit passage of the liqe uid therethrough when the cylinder isre volved in'the tank toimmerse the contents of each part of the cylinder, each of said parts being equippedwith hinged sections to permit access thereto.

i 4. An apparatus of the class described-ineluding a liquid containing tank'equipped 'with a revoluble cylinder, said cylinder being divided into compartments which are 'oflf-set, whereby one compartment is appreciably above the plane of one of the others when the partition dividing any two. of the compartments is on a line arallel with the longitudinal axis of the ta to hold the contents of the upper com artmentslightl above the surface of the liquid in the to.

and the contents of the lower of said compartments slightly beneath the of the liquid in the tank, and hinged sections closing each of said compartments to per-A mit access to be gained thereinto.-

5.. A device as specified includin a liquid 5 containing tank, a cylindefievolub y mounted in said tank in close proximity to one side and one end thereof and remote from the said cylinder adapted to receive fruit to be immersed in said liquid by the rotation of v the cylinder and being removable therefrom antomatieelly, by the liquid, into the tank, in the space provided between the spaced end and side of the tank and periphery of the cylinder.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

. 4 ROY E. WHEELER. 

